1. C++ Visual Studio 2017 For Mac
2. C++ Visual Studio Macro
3. X Code
4. C++ Visual Studio For Mac

I am trying using C++ library (.a) in Visual Studio for Mac (a.k.a. Xamarin) I've found online some info on linking native libraries in Xamarin (https. In Visual Studio for Mac preferences, under Key Bindings section, you can choose the Scheme of key bindings. You can select the scheme from this list. You can select the scheme from this list. This post will be about the first one: “Visual Studio”.

My job is currently based on Visual Studio (ASP.NET).
Looking for experiences using Visual Studio on a Mac.
Does it work?

Kb.Kb.

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19 Answers

In a word, yes.

I use a Mac Mini 1.67 GHz machine with 2GB of RAM. That's not an impressive box, but performance under WinXP is excellent. I have used VS2005, VS2008, MySQL Server, Sql Server Express, and dozens of little utilities.

The only issues I've ever had were when I used a hotkey (ex: F10) that was assigned to something like Expose in the mac. So I would hit F10 and instead of stepping over, it would bring up the weather widget. Workaround was to reassign those keys on the Mac (i.e., reassign to Shift+F10).

Edit:

I see others report having sluggish performance. You may want to get an extra drive and keep your Virtual Drive there. I've been doing that for a long time, and that may be the reason for good performance under XP. Jeff Atwood has a blog entry about this topic.

JosephStyonsJosephStyons

I run Visual Studio 2008 on a Mac via the Parallels desktop and it works perfectly.

Lots of people are talking about Parallels and VMWare Fusion, but I didn't see any mention of the other methods I've used to good effect.

1. Visual Studio via Remote Desktop - I have a laptop running Windows/Visual Studio with a static IP and use the Microsoft Remote Desktop client to connect from my Mac. This has the advantage of minimal overhead on the Mac, so is more responsive than a VM. However, it has the obvious disadvantage of requiring a second machine running Windows and Visual Studio. If you're running Windows Server 2008, as a bonus you can run RemoteApp to share just Visual Studio to your mac - very convenient.

2. Virtual machine using VirtualBox - All the major features of a VM, except VirtualBox is free. I've used VMs with VMWare Fusion, Parallels and VirtualBox and I have to say I find performance to be pretty much even across all three. Parallels tended to drive my CPU harder than the other two but the actual VM responsiveness was fine. VirtualBox also has Seamless mode, essentially similar to Parallel's Coherence mode, but less integrated into the Desktop. I use this every day to run a Windows-only application on my Mac and it works great, sharing only the window for that application instead of running a full Windows desktop.

3. Boot Camp - depending on your needs, running Boot Camp with Windows installed as a dual-boot OS will of course offer the best performance but with the downside of running Windows ;)

JayJay

Some default replacements for Home/End et al.:

• Start-of-File: Fn-Ctrl-Left
• End-of-File: Fn-Ctrl-Right
• Page-Up: Fn-Up
• Page-Down: Fn-Down
• Start-of-Line: Fn-Left
• End-of-Line: Fn-Right
• Delete: Fn-Delete
• F1: Fn-F1
• ...
• F12: Fn-F12

Yes it does, using VMWare Fusion. It works quite well, actually; the Unity feature allows you to treat Visual Studio in its own Mac window. However, you will need a current version of OS X (10.5.x), a LOT of RAM (more than 4GB), and a lot of hard drive space, as you will need to install all of Windows in your VM.

Jon DavisJon Davis

I've run it in VMWare Fusion (and Parallels previously) on several Macs with 2 gig of RAM without any issues. I generally install with BootCamp because that lets you boot into 'native' Windows if you need more 'umph' (or if you want to game), and the more recent versions of VMWare and Parallels both allow booting the VM directly from the BootCamp partition.

Steven RobbinsSteven Robbins

I am working on an IMac now using VS2008 through BootCamp using Vista. I have tried it using Parallels and found it to be very slow at times. Using BootCamp it is a dream though (apart from having to reboot if you want to use OSx.) I would recommend the BootCamp route.

I use Base Camp and I run Vista w/ VS 2008 on a MacBook Pro. I think it's the bees knees. Mac may make crappy dirty hippie software but they make some rockin hardware.

Sara Chipps♦Sara Chipps

I do this a bit, but I find the keyboard on a MBP miserable for VS/R# - the home/end/page-up/page-down differences/omissions are particularly tedious.

Will DeanWill Dean

Virtualization is the only way I know.If you want to do .NET work in a native IDE I suggest MonoDevelop

Bramha Ghosh

I'm running VMWare Fusion on an iMac with 3GB memory. 1.5GB memory is allocated to the Windows XP that lives in the virtual world. The performance is very satisfying overall, but seems sluggish when I open or compile large C# projects. I am using visual studio 2008.

It definitely works using VMware or Parallels. I've used it in both and it worked far better in VMware Fusion. Things to keep in mind:

• You want lots of RAM. My MacBook Pro has 6GB, with 2GB allocated to the VM
• Defrag often. A fragmented drive is especially slow under virtualization
• Compress unused space often. You're VM will quickly consume many GB as the compiler creates lots of new files
• Use Windows XP. It's way faster.

Good luck!

Paul LefebvrePaul Lefebvre

VS.2008 under XP/Vista/Win7. The tradeoff is whether you want faster compiles or more fan noise. If I need the power, the VM gets to virtualize both cores, then studio becomes much zippier. However, it tends to annoy the fans.

All things considered, it's very slick.

Like Stephen Doyle I use Parallels Desktop.

I'm currently running Parallels Desktop 4.0 on an old MackBook Pro with 2GB and its a bit slow.

In my last job I had a MacBook Pro with 4GB. I used Parallels Desktop 3.0 and ran VS2008 in a VM with 1.5GB memory. It worked well.

ewalsheewalshe

Personally, I am a big fan of VMWare Fusion. You can not only run the development environment of your choice, but setup test sandboxes to deploy and view your application through. I have a crusty XP install running IE6 just to make sure that my applications are passable by its poor standards.

Make sure you've got plenty of RAM for your Mac!

I'm using a 2.66 dual-core MacBook Pro 4gb RAM, VS2008 + XP in Parallels and I'm not having the best experience. Sadly, another hard drive is not an option and if I were to get an external hard drive, I'm not sure why I wouldn't just go back to a Windows laptop that doesn't need extra hardware. Others seem to have had a good experience with this set up though so I'm going to continue to tweak my settings. So far I'm kinda regretting having bought a Mac but not quite enough yet to take the financial hit of selling it on eBay.

DinahDinah

If you have an Intel mac and run windows through boot camp, paralles or vmware etc, yes

I have not tried any of the stuff mentioned above but from what I have read, it seems VMware Fusion seems to be the most preferred option by many. The Unity feature of Fusion seems to give a sense of running your VS2008 on Mac itself.

C++ Visual Studio 2017 For Mac

Aoi Karasu

I run VS 2008 / SQL 2008 on a MistakeBook Pro. I thought Parallels and Fusion kinda sucked for development. Bootcamp is pretty good though, just no native drivers to read the Mac partition of the hard drive. Also the windows 7 drivers are still lacking, the trackpad does not work. Still better than OSX.

ShawnShawn

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Installation

1. Download Visual Studio Code for macOS.
2. Double-click on the downloaded archive to expand the contents.
3. Drag Visual Studio Code.app to the Applications folder, making it available in the Launchpad.
4. Add VS Code to your Dock by right-clicking on the icon to bring up the context menu and choosing Options, Keep in Dock.

Launching from the command line

You can also run VS Code from the terminal by typing 'code' after adding it to the path:

• Launch VS Code.
• Open the Command Palette (⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)) and type 'shell command' to find the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command.

• Restart the terminal for the new $PATH value to take effect. You'll be able to type 'code .' in any folder to start editing files in that folder.

Note: If you still have the old code alias in your .bash_profile (or equivalent) from an early VS Code version, remove it and replace it by executing the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command.

To manually add VS Code to your path, you can run the following commands:

Start a new terminal to pick up your .bash_profile changes.

Note: The leading slash is required to prevent $PATH from expanding during the concatenation. Remove the leading slash if you want to run the export command directly in a terminal.

Touch Bar support

C++ Visual Studio Macro

Out of the box VS Code adds actions to navigate in editor history as well as the full Debug tool bar to control the debugger on your Touch Bar:

Mojave privacy protections

After upgrading to macOS Mojave version, you may see dialogs saying 'Visual Studio Code would like to access your {calendar/contacts/photos}.' This is due to the new privacy protections in Mojave and is not specific to VS Code. The same dialogs may be displayed when running other applications as well. The dialog is shown once for each type of personal data and it is fine to choose Don't Allow since VS Code does not need access to those folders. You can read a more detailed explanation in this blog post.

Updates

VS Code ships monthly releases and supports auto-update when a new release is available. If you're prompted by VS Code, accept the newest update and it will get installed (you won't need to do anything else to get the latest bits).

Note: You can disable auto-update if you prefer to update VS Code on your own schedule.

Preferences menu

You can configure VS Code through settings, color themes, and custom keybindings and you will often see mention of the File > Preferences menu group. On a macOS, the Preferences menu group is under Code, not File.

Next steps

Once you have installed VS Code, these topics will help you learn more about VS Code:

• Additional Components - Learn how to install Git, Node.js, TypeScript, and tools like Yeoman.
• User Interface - A quick orientation around VS Code.
• User/Workspace Settings - Learn how to configure VS Code to your preferences settings.

Common questions

X Code

Why do I see 'Visual Studio Code would like access to your calendar.'

C++ Visual Studio For Mac

If you are running macOS Mojave version, you may see dialogs saying 'Visual Studio Code would like to access your {calendar/contacts/photos}.' This is due to the new privacy protections in Mojave discussed above. It is fine to choose Don't Allow since VS Code does not need access to those folders.